Even the well-to-do will find it difficult to savour the king among mangoes, Alphonso, this year.

The prolonged winter this year in Maharashtra, especially in the Konkan region, has resulted in a 70 per cent drop in the crop. On an average, prices of Alphonso mangoes have quadrupled.

At the Vashi wholesale market, depending on the quality, a dozen mangoes cost Rs 600-1,000. Last year, they sold at Rs 150-200.

Mango varieties from Maharashtra command almost 50 per cent market share, while Tamil Nadu accounts for 25 per cent, with the other States accounting for the rest. Mr Vijay Dhoble, a mango trader from Vashi, said by early April, 60,000 to 70,000 boxes of mangoes usually arrive at the Vashi market on a daily basis, especially from Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts. But as of Thursday afternoon, only 13,000 boxes had reached the market.

According to records with the Agriculture Produce Market Committee, only 12,905 mango boxes were received on Wednesday, while 80,276 boxes were delivered on the same day last year. Each box contains about four to six dozen mangoes. Mr Milind Manerikar, CEO of Sankalp Farms, Pune, said orchard owners across the State are facing trouble this year. Manifold flowering took place but no fruit formation took place due to the prolonged winter. Alphonso is sensitive to temperature variations between night and day. Healthy fruit formation happens in winter, when the temperature varies between 12 and 15 degrees Celsius over 20 days. But this time it lasted for 60 days, he said.

An expert in fruit processing, Mr Jagadeesh Sunkad, said : “The fruit processing industry, which requires mango pulp on a large-scale, will suffer. They usually buy mangoes in June for Rs 6 to Rs 15 a kg, when domestic consumption drops. But this time, there will be no mangoes to make fruit concentrate.”

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